Nitrotoluene question

I attempted making nitrotoluene last night. I have a question. Is there supposed to be a dark top layer? The procedure mentions nothing of it, in fact, it says two separate yellow layers. If, it is not likely, what might I have?

I freshly made nitric acid (conc H2SO4 and KNO3) the night before. It is concentrated. It always has the highlighter yellow tint when I make it. It reacts strongly with Cu. I actually need to add a couple drops of water to initiate the reaction. I also boiled down approx 40% battery acid from the auto store until the H2SO4 is thick and smoking thick white smoke, so I know that is about as concentrated as I can get.

I even freshly distilled my toluene over a small piece of sodium.

Any ideas?

Oh, and, the reaction (i had in crushed ice bath with copious amounts of NaCl) and the temp NEVER went above 7-8 C. I expected some exothermic activity. The thermometer never even increased as I added about 2-3 ml every minute or so. I kept a good eye on the temp. no increase in temp during the entire reaction.

I could notice that it was changing color as the reaction progressed. The initial solution was pretty clear. I could see the stir bar and vortex for a while. After no temp increase for some hours, i felt it was safe to go to bed. I left it stirring all night. This morning it has a dark, distinct layer.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.





[Edited on 27-7-2014 by organicchemist25]